


sweet as strawberry wine

by whisperedwords



Series: YingYang!verse [7]
Category: National Football League RPF
Genre: Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Softness, Teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-13
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2019-02-14 03:18:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12998709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whisperedwords/pseuds/whisperedwords
Summary: Finally—after what feels like the longest, most painful season in organizational history—they get to end things on a softer note.





	sweet as strawberry wine

**Author's Note:**

> ya girl is back because she can't cope with the possibility that eli leaves next season and also because she dearly misses this verse. title from chris stapleton's song [tennessee whiskey](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqPcXhqQHQ8) because it reminds me of them and all i do is cry anyway.
> 
>  
> 
> [obligatory "come talk to me about them on my other garbage platform" comment](http://grantgustin.tk)

It’s been a long year in New York. Anyone can attest to that, looking back on it all—it’s Icarus, of course, always Icarus, who flies too close to the sun and is punished for it, and though the myth never specifies a team of fifty-something grown men plummeting to the Earth on melted wings, no other analogy fits quite as well. They’d gotten too cocky. They’d inadvertently gotten their coach fired. They’d lost half their team to injury. All in all, the 2017 season wasn’t one to be remembered—not for anything good, anyway.

But November rolls into December, and December slips into January, and all the weight and the stress and the pain of football—of  _losing_ , specifically—disappear. Odell calls Eli the night after their last game, lingering behind in the team hotel even though he hadn’t actually stayed there since week 4. (He’s there because he knows Eli is there—knows Eli will be packing the last of his bags, heading back to the family for a few weeks before starting prep for the next season again.)

“Hey,” he hums as he hears Eli pick up the phone, “you doin’ anything right now?”

Eli laughs on the other end, quiet and a little bit distant. “Nothin’ important,” he replies.

Odell makes a soft noise in his throat as he pretends to ponder what to say next. “I’m in the lobby,” he finally decides. “Come down and meet me.”

“O, you know I gotta at least  _start_ to pack…”

“C’mon, baby, come see me.” He pauses. “Or, I can just—you still in the same room?”

“Hasn’t changed in almost a decade, honey,” Eli replies fondly, and O feels his ears start to burn with a blush. He chuckles into the phone before hanging up and making his way to the elevator.

Room 307, as consistent as the man himself, sits right in the middle of the hallway when Odell steps out of the elevator. Sitting on the knob is a  _do not disturb_  sign, which makes O grin instinctively. (Realistically, it’s probably so that Eli can get in a last few tape watching sessions before the season officially ends, but it’s more fun to imagine him doing something a little more…. _risque._ ) He saunters up to the door and knocks a few times before stepping back, shoving his hands in his pockets. He feels nervous— _nervous_. Him. It’s ridiculous, and he starts to chide himself for it because he’s been sleeping with Eli for over a year now and he’s head-over-heels in love with him how can he still be  _nervous_ —

“Hey.” Eli takes him by surprise as he opens the door, smooth like he always somehow manages to be. O feels the heat in his cheeks as he ducks his head for a moment, caught off guard at the wave of Authentic Louisiana Boy he’d just walked into.

“Hi,” he answers after a moment, the smile on his face appearing on its own as Eli dips his head down to kiss him gently, sweetly. When they part after a few moments, O blinks slowly, his smile softening into something quieter. Eli bites his lower lip for a brief moment. “Doin’ anything?”

E shakes his head in response. “Waitin’ on you,” he replies, stepping aside for Odell to walk in. It’s quiet for a moment, Odell padding through the carpeted room and sitting on the bed without saying anything. Eli turns to face him. “Missed havin’ you here, y’know.” His voice comes out a little gravelly, drawing Odell’s attention up into his quarterback’s face.

“Missed bein’ here.” And he did. Itchy mattresses and Otto’s snoring aside, being in the team hotel just a few doors down from Eli was always a comfort. (Truth be told, he’d felt lonely in the beginning, not having his other half practically at arm’s length away.) He doesn’t want to think about all the time they’d spent apart, so he shakes his head and beckons Eli to come sit next to him on the comforter. “How are you?”

“Fine,” Eli replies breezily, eyes half-closing as Odell gently combs a hand through his hair. O knows he’s lying—there are a thousand decisions to be made in the coming weeks, and the season hadn’t ended well for anyone, really:  _fine_  isn’t what Eli Manning is feeling right now. But he also knows better—so he doesn’t say a word, just continues to lightly rake his fingers through Eli’s hair and hum softly in response. After a few beats, E continues. “Better, though, now that you’re here.”

“Oh?” Odell raises an eyebrow at him. “Thought you said you were just packing.”

“I  _was_ ,” he insists with a small smile, shaking his head as Odell bumps his forehead into E’s shoulder, “but you called and then I got distracted.” Eli turns his head so that they’re almost nose-to-nose. “So, that’s on you.” His smile gets big. O giggles.

“Yeah, yeah,” he mumbles. “Sure, old man,  _I’m_  the reason you forgot to finish.” He pointedly leans away from a playful kiss from E and dramatically looks to the ceiling, crossing his arms.

“Aw, baby, c’mon,” Eli murmurs, snaking one hand around and pulling Odell flush to his side. O yelps softly. Nuzzling his nose to Odell’s cheek, E hums “ _mmm,_ you want me to say I’m old, huh?” The younger man lets out a quiet laugh, completely ensnared by his unbelievable quarterback in the most unlikely situation they could’ve predicted. “I may be old, but I’m young enough where it counts…”

“Wh—!” Odell’s exclamation cuts off as Eli suddenly sweeps him off his feet and then tosses him onto the mattress they’d been sitting on. “You sonofa _bitch_!”

“Am I old now?” He laughs, crawling on top of Odell and halfheartedly bracketing him between his arms. O’s breath comes in gasps between laughing fits, and he gazes up at Eli, the warmth in his chest curling into a ball.

“Hmmmmm……” He bites his lip as Eli dives down to press a few kisses to his cheek, the barest hint of teeth scraping against Odell’s sensitive skin beneath his beard. He shivers, but doesn’t say anything else.

“Ridiculous,” Eli grunts, kissing his way back to Odell’s now-parted lips. “Ridiculous, Oh-dell, ridiculous.” But he’s smiling—he always is. O makes a soft noise in response and twines his fingers in Eli’s hair, urging him down so that their lips meet gently. It’s not urgent, for once, but more slow, languid in a way that both of them need after the tumultuous season they’d gone through. Eli keeps dipping his head down, deepens the kiss for a moment before returning to its surface, breaking away every few moments to beam down at the love of his life. Odell can’t help but beam back—he’s so in love, so  _stupidly_  in love that he finds it hard to believe that this is his life. That this is real.

A knock on the door, though, sudden and jarring, sends Eli tumbling back onto the bed, a confused expression on his face. After a few seconds, the two of them hear Herzlich’s voice outside, saying something about the staff coming through in ten minutes. “See ya in a few weeks, E,” it sounds like. Odell certainly hopes so.

“Guess we should, uh, get a room?” Eli asks teasingly after a moment, lips a little kiss-swollen and red. Odell rolls his eyes and bites his lip to hide the laughter he knows won’t stop if he doesn’t suppress it.

“You’re a dumbass,” he responds, letting out a silent huff of laughter before rolling off the bed. Eli sits up, smooths his hair back. “We’ll continue where we left off…at my place.” He winks. “See you there,  _daddy_.”

“God dammit, Odell. You’re gonna be the death of me.”


End file.
